Türkiye's trade gap narrowed 15.7% on a yearly basis to $5.6 billion in May, mainly due to the calendar effect and fewer working days during the month, marking a nine-month low, Trade Minister Ömer Bolat said on Thursday.
The deficit decreased as both exports and imports fell in the month, with imports showing a starker decline of nearly 11%.
Announcing the preliminary foreign trade in Ankara, the minister said that exports dropped by 9.3% to $22.5 billion in May, while imports fell by 10.7% to $28.1 billion in the same period.
Last month had a long 9-day holiday that coincided with Eid al-Adha or Qurban Bayram, the second of two major holidays observed among Muslims, which reflected on the figures.
Starting his speech, Bolat noted that the world economy is going through a difficult period, with ongoing geopolitical challenges and disruptions in logistics chains, and he said that despite an environment where global economic growth forecasts are being revised downwards, Türkiye continues to show resilient performance in growth, employment, and exports.
